Morrison has been with the university since 1989, and in 1993, she became the first African-American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. “This is an exceptional and beautiful occasion for me,” Morrison said.

During the opening for the dedication ceremony, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber emphasized the importance of Morrison Hall, referring to it as a “181-year-old building that is the home and the heart of the undergraduate college at Princeton University.”

Previously, Morrison Hall was called West College before being renamed. And it houses the Office of the Dean of the College. A portrait of Morrison created by Paul Wyse was hung in the building.

“How fitting that the first building named through this process will now honor a teacher, an artist and a scholar who not only have graced our campus with the highest imaginable levels of achievement and distinction but who has herself spoken eloquently about the significance of names on the Princeton campus,” Eisgruber said.

In 2016, the university trustees approved dedicating one of the institution’s most prominent buildings after Morrison.

Ruth Simmons, Morrison’s friend, helped recruit Morrison to Princeton when Simmons was acting director of the Center for African American Studies.

“It doesn’t take much for Toni to get a swelled head,” Simons said in her remarks. “It is going to take it over the top more especially because she has been good for Princeton, and Princeton has been good for her.”

Morrison joined the Princeton University faculty as literature and creative writing professor in 1989. She transferred to emeritus status in 2006.

According to the Princeton, Morison played a significant role in expanding the university’s commitments to the creative and performing arts and African-American Studies.

Morrison founded the Princeton Atelier in 1994, which brings together undergraduate students in interdisciplinary collaborations with acclaimed artists.

Morrison is one of the most prominent African American writers of our time. Her depiction of black lives and the black perspective is part of the foundation of how to portray and write about navigating a white world as a black human being.

She deserves every honor she receives and her papers, which were already a part of the university library’s permanent collection since 2014, became available to students, faculty and worldwide scholars in 2016 for research purposes.

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